Shoe construction



J. WERMAN Dec. 30, 1941.

SHOE CONSTRUCTION Filed Jilly 5, 1941 FIG.

FIG. 3

FIG. 2..

FIG. 5.

gnomiioz JACK WERMAN I W? Patented Dec. 30, 1941 UNITED s1 The presentinvention relates to improvements in shoe construction and moreparticularly to improvements in construction of the portions of open toeshoes such as worn by women and girls.

Heretofore there has been a considerable sale of girls and women's opentoe shoes in each of which the toe of the upper is provided with anopening through which the end of the large toe of the wearer is exposed.In making a shoe with such a toe it was common practice to provide suchan opening in the toe portion of the upper, that when the edge of theupper was attached to an insole there would be a corresponding gap alongthe edge of the insole. For example, where a welt was used and connectedthrough the edge of the upper with the insole, the combined thickness atthis gap would be less than at other positions, due to the omission ofthe edge of the upper at this part, and this variation in thicknesswould be so noticeable as to injure the appearance of the shoe. I

An important object of the invention is to provide for improvedconstruction whereby such differences in thickness at the edge of thesole will be avoided. Another object is to provide a novel andadvantageous construction of the toe portion of a shoe.

The invention may be utilized to particular advantage in connection withthe making of open toe stitchdown shoes. practice to form the toe of theblank of the upper with an opening with a relatively wide mouth so thatwhen the edge of the upper is turned out over the toe portion of theinsole there will be a substantial gap between the portions of the upperat opposite sides of the opening. Then when a welt is placed over theoutturned edge of the upper and the welt, upper and insole are sewedtogether, the sole structure-at the toe of the shoe will be ofnoticeably less thickness at the toe than around the rest of the shoe,thus injuring the appearance of the shoe.

In carrying out the present invention, the toe opening in the end of theblank is so made as to provide at opposite sides of the mouth of theopening inwardly facing prongs which may be sewed together edge to edgeso as to provide a continuous stratum of upper material around the toeof the shoe. In this arrangement the leather of the upper furnishes aguide for sewing around the toe. With the prior arrangement there was noguide for the stitching and variations in the line of stitching werealmost certain to occur.

Heretofore it has been the T appear upon consideration of the followingdetailed description and of the drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a shoe embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the toe end of an I Fig. 4 is a fragmentaryperspective view illus.

trating the upper as attached to the insole; and Fig. 5 is a fragmentarylongitudinal-section of the structure shown in Fig. 4 but with a weltand an outsole applied.

Referring to the drawing, there is illustrated in Fig. l a shoe |0embodying one form of the present invention. The shoe may comprise anupper I I and although it might be prepared in different ways it isillustrated as made from a single piece or blank. As illustrated in Fig.2!, the blank is provided adjacent the toe end with an oval orelliptical opening 12 with its longer axis extending transversely of theblank and with a passage extending between the ends of two prongs l'3 tothe forward edge of the blank.

Before the upper is lasted with an insole M, the ends of the prongs l3may be brought to-' gether end to end and secured in any suitable manneras by stitching 15, the leather of the upper being sufficiently flexibleto permit this connection to be made without any trouble although theupper is somewhat distorted from its fiat form. Obviously theinclination of the ends of the prongs 13 must be suitable for thisconnection.

After the upper and insole have been lasted with the edge of the upperturned outwardly over the edge portion of the insole I4, the insole andupper may be secured together by a line of insole stitching IS in theusual manner for stitchdown shoes. In this operation the stitching isguided by the upper material supported by the last and at the tip of theshoe the opening is of such shape and so positioned, that there issatisfactory guiding of the stitching at that point. With uppers shapedas they were heretofore there was substantially nothing to guide thestitching at this point.

After the insole stitching is completed, an outsole is applied to thebottom of the insole, a welt I1 is placed on the outwardly extendingedge of the upper and the parts are secured together by outsolestitching I8 extending continuously Other objects, features andadvantages will 53 around the toe and preferably around the insole.

Although the description has been based on the manufacture of stitchdownshoes, it should be understood that the invention might also apply toother forms of shoes.

It should be understood that various changes may be made and thatcertain features may be used without others without departing from thetrue spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

The method of making a shoe of the class described which consists informing a blank for an 10 sole at the toe.

upper with a toe portion having an opening extending to its forward edgebetween inwardly directed prongs, securing together the end edges ofsaid prongs, lasting the upper and an insole with the edge of the upperoutturned over the edge portions of the insole and with the prongsextending along the front edge of the insole and securing the parts byinsole stitching extending continuously along the edge portion of saidin- JACK WERMAN.

